In September, China stopped shipping rare earths, minerals crucial to military, cell phone and green technologies, to countries around the world. A report from the Bureau for International Reporting.

This 2010 video shows how a primary sector economic activity is reshaping global industry. Green technologies are dependent on these mining resources and China is the world's rare earth 'superpower.' Many factories have relocated in China in part because of cheap labor, but also to gain access to these rare earths.

This New York Times video discusses China limiting rare earths exports. Rare earths are the heavy elements which are important components in many technologies as they are the best permanent magnets. By limiting the exports, or just completely denying a country like Japan, China sees two benefits. The first, the country gets to keep most of its rare earth resources for itself. China is on the verge of needing massive amounts of rare earths for its own people as the standard of living rises. Secondly, China is forcing many industries to open their factories in China if they want access to the rare earths China has a monopoly on, opening them up to Chinese taxes and tariffs.

This video discusses how rare earths are important for a green future. China has halted its shipments of rare earths, which are used in cellphones, laptops and electric cars. China has the largest population in the world and is wise for not exporting an abundance of its rare earths. It is important that the U.S. starts to mine in places such as California for these minerals. Mining may not be good for the environment, but the path to a green future starts in a mine.

As the video states, China is now realizing its own domestic needs outweighs the desire to export. China needs to go "green" and fast as well as be able to supply its own domestic corporations with the resources they need to supply their own people. An interesting by product of this internalization though, is that it puts its international competitors at a disadvantage. Almost a win-win for them. Japan is a regional competitor and by lowering the amount available to America and Europe, it forces them to speed time and money looking elsewhere. It is both an economic and strategic move, as the civilian needs are important but so are the military needs of rare earths.

This is an incredible video because of the shocking footage of blatant disregard for worker safety. This can lead to an interesting discussion concerning how China has been able to have its economy grow. What other ways has China (or Chinese companies) been "cutting corners?" How does that give them a competitive edge on the global industrial market?

(East Asia topic 6)This video signifies two distinct characteristics of labor in China. First and most obviously is the disregard of safety. One could argue in the past that risks such as these were accepted by workers since China was a largely less-developed country with fewer employment opportunities; however, being a recent video and China currently making exponential economic and developmental ground, this is definitely one of those 'things which shouldn't be happening'. With all of the nation's so-called "improvements," why are none discernible here?

Secondly, traits such as subservient respect are valued more in nations such as China. It is possible that if these workers hadn't have taken the risk and not completed the job, they would've been fired and had a somewhat 'tainted' reputation for not following their orders to demolish the building.

Though it seems that all industrializing nations have gone through issues of workers' safety and reasonable expectations, China should use it's late-coming as a plus by learning from others which have gone before it, and avoiding the personal, legal, and even some social issues which have been faced before.

China's ability to sweep unjust working conditions under the rug has allowed it to grow economically at an impressive rate. Although I disagree with unsafe working conditions it is important to note the hypocrisy that developed countries display when advocating fro workers rights. In the US for example, our economic growth was contingent on slavery, child labor, and immigrant exploitation. Unfortunately if any developing country wants to compete with countries that are at the top of the global economic hegemony, they must cut the same corners those countries cut centuries ago. What needs to be done is find a way to show developing countries that growth is possible without abusing workers.

This video borders on difficult to watch. While it is definitely amazing to watch it really flies in the face of standard American job safety operations. These workers are perched on top of this building with no harnesses balancing in the shovel of a back hoe while sawing loose great slabs of concrete. Luckily no one was injured in this video but frankly this video does a great job of showing how China has been able to grow so rapidly. A lack of interest in individual workers safety and a sole goal of progress, at the possible cost of its citizens.

The new immigration laws have caused farmers to cut back on crops due to low empolyment rate. The immgrants that were currently working for farmers, ran off in fear of being captured. I'm against this law, I see exactly where the farmers are coming from. I believe these laws are pointless, it's just people trying to make an honest buck in the hot sun. Alabama is losing a great deal of agriculture due to this new law. Even though, they say its againast the law. I don't see the point. Why be so hard on these farmer??

This article shows how important it is to follow the natural way of agriculture. With the new laws in Alabama being passed it now allows people to grow crops in an unnatural way which is devastating predicament to the agricultural world.

Where are the world's biggest Chinese and Indian immigrant communities? MORE Chinese people live outside mainland China than French people live in France, with some to be found in almost every country.

The two most populous countries in the world, India and China, are mentioned frequently when teaching population geography. However, it is typical in the United States to pass over these countries when discussing migration; this graphic shows the diasporas are quite extensive and highly influential.

When I first came across this article I thought it was intriguing but not surprising. Most people fleeing from India and China go somewhere nearby versus somewhere far away. Places like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia have a high rate of Chinese and Indian migrants, which proves one of Ravenstein's laws.

This is showing indias geography. This article is telling you where the most populated parts of India are. Which are most of them live out side of China. The two most populated countrys are India and China. India has a higher people per square mile than China.

We are told that we should change the world to be what we think it should be...this urban development has taken that to the extreme, showing human/environmental interactions, development and urban issues in Dubai, UAE. For more information about this place, see: http://www.theworld.ae/ ;

The massive influx of wealth from rich oil fields in Dubai has allowed developers to capitalize on the growing wealthy population and bring tourists to the UAE with this extreme example of man manipulating the environment. This is an ambitious venture that is growing in popularity among wealthy people looking for the most outlandish purchase they can think of. Building their own islands as vacation homes seems ridiculous but it is just the next step in human ability to alter geography to suit their wants and needs. Dubai didn't have the lavish resort industry prior to oil making it one of the richest cities in the world. Now however, they have built gigantic hotels in the city, and are "improving" their geography because they now have the economic ability to do so.

While taking a section of the world off the coast of dubai and making an entire country seems good, it is not taking into account the problems that could arise. It would be very expensive and could also be subject to natural disasters, especially with its location. If more planning and back ups went into this project than it would be an interesting and worthwhile venture, but as it stands, it is better said than done.

This is an example of a nation coming into vast amounts of wealth, in this case oil and spending said money largely to show the world it can. Does Dubai expect to make a ton of profit from this? While I can assume I can't see thing being a business driven decision. Instead I see this as an way of yet again showing the world how wealthy their nation is and how they're able to create a world of their own using man made islands.

More people left Phoenix in 2009 than came. The map above visualizes moves to and from Phoenix; counties that took more migrants than they sent are linked with red lines. Counties that sent more migrants than they took are linked with blue lines.

I've sent this link out before, but Forbes now has four articles attached to interactive mapping tool that analyze the data (including one by geographer Michael Conzen). Also the new data has been added and the visualization has also been improved...very cool features with tremendous amounts of teaching applications.

In this day and age we see more people migrating then staying. People move for numerous things, a trend that causes a lot of migration is when people retire they move to southern Florida. They get tons of sun rays and meet a lot of people their age there. Another reason people migrate is for jobs. If their job tells them they have to move across state they do which causes more migration. ~R.J~

The map is what originally attracted me to this article, but I must admit that the actual article was very interesting. Lots of the moves were from Phoenix, Arizona. Why people moved from Phoenix was not information that was disclosed in the article, but because of that, it made me wonder and want to learn more about this topic. AW :)

I've seen something like this before. More people leaving a location than entering it. Something may have caused them to move, Push and Pull factors are both in this. Job opportunities or the extreme heat of Phoenix may have caused them to leave. It shows that most people went to the Northeast, where it is cooler and has more people.

In Panama City, a plan to build a marine viaduct around a colonial-era neighborhood has residents up in arms...

Urban preservation, the historical geography of communities and the cultural character of the urban environment are themes that are deeply embedded in this quick yet potent article by geographer, Thomas Sigler.

This is an issue that citizens and governments struggle with all around the world. Spots like this one, which is "the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas", are treasured by residents, citizens, and tourists alike. But when does a historical area need to adapt to growing populations (and therefore increasingly congested streets)? Or should they at all? Projects like these take a lot of time, effort, and money to complete. When visual reminders of local history are taken away, it risks the chance of the knowledge of the history being lost as well. The funny thing is, this development is felt to be necessary in order to better accommodate large influxes of tourists which are attracted to this historical site, which if the development takes place, may ruin the charm of the neighborhood; it is a viscous cycle.

The preservation of this neighborhood is important for one's sense of place. The marine viaduct would take away for the history that is embedded in Panama City. While a viaduct would be incredibly useful and profitable, i understand why residents would be concerned.

Just from looking at this picture, this doesn't really look like a bad neighborhood to live in, despite it being one of the oldest in Latin America. They wish to turn the old neighborhood into a highway with six lands of traffic. The neighborhood was founded back in 1673 by the Spanish Crown. It is described as a charming colonial-era World Heritage Site and as previously stated, the oldest European settlement on the Pacific coast. The cobblestone streets, Spanish colonial architecture and majestic plazas have earned a considerable amount of international acclaim in the past 10 years, attracting tourists. Back and forth the debate goes about whether or not to demolish this neighborhood. A neighborhood resident and real estate agent has been fighting against the project. She got a group together and so far they have been successful at protesting and even meeting with the President to voice their opinion. At the moment, it is unclear at what the outcome will be.

Cyprus has a long history of violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, so the buffer zone protest which follows the #occupy model, has greater political, ethnic, historical and geographic implications. Will this grassroots effort open a political dialogue to resolve the island’s divisions? Here is the group's Facebook page. The video is long, but the first few minutes are especially relevant with a nice overview.

This is a video introduction to www.historypin.com which might just prove to be a very useful and important project. It's historical geography powered by collaborative mapping that is infused with social media dynamics. Backed by Google, they are geo-tagging old photos to recreate the historical geographies of all places and comparing them with current street view images. You can search by topic, place or date...this has the potential to be very big.

Absolutely brilliant! The possibilities that this offers are staggering. If museums, galleries, and archives all got on board with this, they could create an incredible database that would allow teachers to add so much more depth to their lessons. I feel like having a visual timeline paired with geographic references in this capacity would give students (and everyone else!) a stronger understanding of how deeply history and geography are connected.

Agreed, this is conceptually amazing...but what a vast undertaking. I'm half-tempted to upload some pictures but I know that I've got too many pet projects at the moment and think that this one has the potential to overwhelm me time-wise.

GIS student's comment,November 17, 2011 3:37 PM

Awesome site! As an aspiring teacher, this website can be great for then and now projects. When explaining different eras or time periods this not only shows where certain things took place, but what they looked like as well. Definitely something that will become more popular in the social media aspect of society. Definitely a site I can spend hours on.

The site is in Chinese, but the images are spectacular. They put a glass trail on the mountain Tyanmen (Heaven's Gate), located in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan Province, China.It is a mountain in this park inspired the famous film "Avatar," the idea of floating mountains of Pandora. Below is a Google image search for "Zhangjiajie National Forest Park." Prepare to be amazed.

At TEDxPhilly, Next American City editor at large Diana Lind explains why cities should rethink their highway infrastructure.

For generations, the prominent model of urbanism accepted in the U.S. has placed the automobile as the top priority for public places, placing massive highways right in the middle of key downtown areas. Some cities (including Denver, DC, NYC, Providence and Dallas) are rethinking the relationship between urban spaces and the transportation networks.

This is an inspiring project that seeks to elevate poor slum-dwelling Indians by providing educational resources to children. As free computer terminals are made available, their literacy skills soar and possibilities are widened. Visit the projects homepage at: http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/ ;

As a child, most of us probably didn't particularly learn through technology or computers but through other hands on methods. In these slums, getting school supplies which we are fortunate to have may not be so easy. There are just so many people and living conditions make it harder for each child to be benefit equally. That being said, these computers just might benefit the youth in the long run. It might not be traditional, or even equal at times yet it is a type of improvisation that can probably be helpful. In the video you could see the kids waiting in line, wanting to use the touchscreen, wanting to learn. It is an abstract approach to education, but with the growth and diversity, it just might work effectively.

In the United States we take for granted the resources that are so easily accessed like computers. In this poor neighborhood in India, a computer was put in a wall and the children taught themselves how to use the computer. These slum kids don't have the tools needed to get out of poverty. Given them these computers may seem like a drop of water in the bucket but it is an important step.

The terms cooks enter into search engines can provide clues as to what dishes are being cooked around the nation.

Some fascinating (if not entirely scientific) maps that show the most common searches on www.allrecipes.com and regional differences in food preferences. More importantly, it also is an interesting glimpse into the geography of language. Some similar dishes are called by more regional names (e.g.-"Stuffing" in the Northeast and West, "Dressing" in the Midwest and South). This set of maps also reinforces the concepts of regions. This is a fun way to teach some actual content and enjoy the holiday.

The Israeli blockade may have taken a heavy toll on Gazans, but this film reveals life and hope among the devastation.

Not a small clip (47 min.), this film was produced to show regular life in the Gaza strip, and the difficulties that endured by Palestinian because of Israeli blockade. This film shows the cultural resilience of the Palestinians is the face of political sanctions and how the lack of building materials impairs development.

A set of 2000 census maps that focus on religion in the United States. Even in secular societies, religion can play an important role within society, both culturally and politically. Include are links to many more religious maps.

Folk cultures are rural, religious, agricultural, family-based and in a word: traditional. This classic movie's opening 10 minutes are a good primer for markers of folk cultures and struggles that folk cultures have to maintain there vitality in a globalizing world.

"Borders are all-important imaginary lines that affect our lives in myriad ways. They define in a very literal sense where we live, who we call neighbors, and how we are governed. But in a world defined by instantaneous communications and commutes that can just as easily involve airports as train stations, many borders are relics of a bygone era."

Most semesters I have students redraw the United States map into regions and it is a productive session to understand the concepts of region, place and culture. This article echoes the proposal of geographer Etzel Pearcy to divide the country into 38 states. This comes from an excellent blog about density: http://persquaremile.com/

"80% of all web communication is in ten languages, yet 95% of humanity speaks roughly 300 languages. Could Apple Siri and Google Voice help save the world's languages?"

This graph stunningly displays the result of dwindling linguistic diversity in this era of globalization and technological innovation. Why have so many languages been dwindling? Why are an important few growing? What is the future of the majority of the world's languages that have so few native speakers?

I think there is a lot of emphasis in this article based on help. The only way certain languages are going to survive is if people help promote them. I feel that most Americans are blind to the substantial amount of languages that exist because everywhere we look people are tuning English as there primary language. Global advertisements are commonly seen in English. The Olympics had an incredible amount as well. I think the root of this problem starts with education of new languages, especially in America. Language is definitely something that needs to be embraced especially at a younger age.

For GIS day, I not only celebrate ESRI, but also want to acknowledge the open-source GIS community. This site provides many resources for those seeking to try out QGIS or other GIS platforms, but haven't known where to start.

I've been playing around with QGIS for a few weeks, and while I think ArcGIS is significantly more user-friendly, I love that QGIS is available for those of us that don't have thousands of dollars to spend on GIS software. I've also found that QGIS runs much quicker (presumably from its smaller files). Ultimately, I'm a huge fan of any information or technology that's specifically designed to be accessible to all who want it, and QGIS certainly fits the bill.

This video beautifully encapsulates the spirit of a globalized educational experience and the value of geographic understanding in an ever-interconnected world. Geography is about broadening our minds to other places, other cultures and other ways of doing things. In a three part series including 'Eat' and 'Move.'

I agree completely with geography is about broadening our minds to other places, other cultures, and other ways of doing things. You need to be apart of other cultures, and other country norms in order to truly respect them and learn about them. Overall you need to explore other places, and cultures with all your five senses. You need to be able to see the beauty of the place, taste the foods of the culture, listen to the sounds arounds you, smell the the distinctive scents, and touch and feel the concrete piece of land.

This is great because it shows people are round the world what great people and cultures are available for people to explore. It also shows that great spirit that people are exposed to. It also shows that people are outgoing and do not let nothing bring them down.

Why are some communities more vulnerable to hunger and famine? There are many reasons, which together add up to food insecurity, the world's no.1 health risk...

Excellent summary of the geographic factors that lead to food insecurity and hunger and the main ways NGO's are trying to combat the issues. This is an incredibly complex problem that, at it's heart, is a geographic issue that can challenge student to synthesize information and make the connections between topics.

This is a incredible clip that does challenge students to synthesize information and make the connections between topics, but it can also help students to realize making a difference at a early age is important. I learned an abundance of facts just from watching, it was informative and intriguing. As I was watching the video I was thinking of ways it can be incorporated into the classroom. This video could get students to learn about the world's number one health risk. Incorporating it into the classroom by holding a food drive, or having a school wide fundraiser to donate to the British Red Cross is also another way to help. Getting our future minds informed and helping the community will make an impact in the future.

1. United States, Eastern United States2. Madagascar to southwest of Australia, South of Australia3. NW coast of United States to Central South America4. Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean5. Central Africa and the Middle East6. Sahara Desert and the Middle East7. Canada and Central United States8. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay9. Islands in the Philippine Sea10. Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam11. Middle East, Mediterranean Sea12. United States, Indian Ocean13. Eastern Europe to SE Asia

1. United States, Eastern United States
2. Madagascar to southwest of Australia, South of Australia
3. NW coast of United States to Central South America
4. Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
5. Central Africa and the Middle East
6. Sahara Desert and the Middle East
7. Canada and Central United States
8. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
9. Islands in the Philippine Sea
10. Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
11. Middle East, Mediterranean Sea
12. United States, Indian Ocean
13. Eastern Europe to SE Asia

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